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Employment Law

Take off the kid gloves! Bosses must still manage, even after employee complains

02/23/2011

The threat of a retaliation lawsuit can make supervisors feel like they have to walk on eggshells when dealing with employees who complain. That kind of overreaction can make good management impossible. Instead, instruct managers and supervisors to document the reasons behind any workplace changes that may have an adverse impact on employees who have complained about discrimination.

OT would have been cheaper: L.A. company owes $3.2 million

02/23/2011
Los Angeles sportswear manufacturer Tapout would have been better off paying up in the first place. All former employee Michelle Thomas originally wanted was overtime pay and some disputed commissions she said she had earned. But now that a California Superior Court jury in L.A. has ruled, Tapout is on the hook for $3.2 million, including $2.4 million in punitive damages.

Plant closings: You must give 60 days’ notice

02/23/2011
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a strongly worded opinion chastising an employer for trying to dodge liability for not giving 60 days’ notice that it would close a facility, as required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

What keeps HR awake at night?

02/22/2011
Rising health care costs, implementing the new health care reforms, rapidly changing business and labor markets, growing regulatory complexity and managing the aging workforce top the list of challenges HR pros face. That’s what the Society for Human Resource Management found when it surveyed more than 9,000 practitioners.

Make the independent contractor vs. employee decision before you bring person on board

02/22/2011
Make sure you make the employee-or-contractor call before you hire an employee. Don’t assume you can make the designation later. That usually won’t work. And you probably won’t even discover the problem until it’s too late to fix it—when a terminated worker files an overtime lawsuit.

Any stereotypes of workers–even positive ones–can spark discrimination lawsuits

02/22/2011
Typically, employees who file discrimination lawsuits try to show they were treated poorly because of preconceived notions about their protected category (age, religion, sex, disability status, etc.). But be aware of this twist: Stereotypes that seem positive at first blush can also be the basis for discrimination claims.

If employee won’t admit disability, what are our reasonable accommodation obligations?

02/21/2011
Q. One of our employees is experiencing performance-related problems, which I believe are attributable to a mental disability. However, the worker has not notified anyone here that he suffers from an impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. He hasn’t asked for any accommodations either. Should we nonetheless offer to reasonably accommodate this employee?

After NLRB ruling, can employees really trash you on Facebook?

02/21/2011
Don’t read too much into the recent foray by the NLRB into the brave new world of social media. Employees don’t receive a free pass on social media posts. They don’t have license to defame, disparage or otherwise trash their company, management, product or co-workers. Until the NLRB says otherwise, employers shouldn’t treat social media any differently than any other form of employee communications.

Need to discipline employee? Prepare to back it up with contemporaneous records

02/21/2011
Courts love to see good records that support employer discipline—records created at or very near the time events occurred. That’s why every manager needs to know how to document discipline and who gets a copy for later use.

Discipline worker who complained of bias–if warranted and consistent with past practice

02/21/2011

Employees who claim some form of discrimination are protected from retaliation. But that doesn’t mean employers can’t discipline employees who have complained. The key is to make sure any discipline is based on legitimate concerns and doesn’t go beyond that which other employees who didn’t complain would receive.